Using electronic health data to strengthen CPD for medical practitioners
It’s no secret that digital health is revolutionising the way physicians can improve patient outcomes. From the world’s first 3D printed heart to synthetic cells, technology is advancing the industry at a rapid pace. The RACP acknowledges the huge opportunities that are emerging from digital health and is incredibly proud of its ongoing partnership with the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre
(Digital Health CRC).
In November 2018, the RACP signed a Participant Agreement with the Digital Health CRC, the world’s largest digital health cooperative. The program is backed by $55 million in funding and further supported by industry partners, with an estimated $105 million of in-kind contributions. The RACP is actively engaged in the program, in collaboration with multiple Australian universities, other industry partners and Australian healthcare services. You can read more about this data-driven research project and how it will benefit you in RACP Quarterly Issue Three 2020 on pages 34 and 35.
RACP Research Officer from the College’s Professional Practice team, Ms Carol Pizzuti is currently on a career break conducting her PhD ‘Using electronic health data to strengthen CPD for medical practitioners’ at the University of Sydney. Her PhD is embedded within the Digital Health CRC’s research program ‘Using practice analytics to understand variation and support reflective practice’.
“Practice analytics is an emerging field that investigates the potential secondary use of existing electronic health data for clinical performance and quality improvement purposes,” says Ms Pizzuti.
“The ultimate goal of my research project is to support medical practitioners improve their clinical practice and provide safer care. The research team I’m part of is focusing on the use of data analytics, continuing professional development (CPD) regulations, and continuing medical education and CPD programs as factors that can influence practice improvement processes.”
Ms Pizzuti’s research will be hugely beneficial to the College’s Professional Practice team, which covers a wide scope of work, including CPD.
“One of the aims of my research project is to understand whether performance feedback obtained from electronic health data analysis and mining is currently used to identify areas of practice improvement, and subsequently employed to design personalised educational activities and effective CPD tools for medical practitioners.”
“To do this, academic literature is under review and thought leaders in learning analytics and experts in continuing medical education and professional development are being interviewed to collect opinions and insights on potential barriers and enablers,” says Ms Pizzuti.
The second aim of Ms Pizzuti’s research project is to understand the current standpoints, regulations and processes of medical regulatory bodies, healthcare service organisations, and medical education providers. Even in this case, the focus of this research will be on the use of electronic health data for individual performance feedback, continuing education and professional development purposes.
“Preliminary findings show that policy development and implementation, together with organisational structure and culture, are elements that need to be taken into consideration in Practice Analytics research. Research findings are expected to provide unique insights on how to use electronic health data to develop personalised CME programs and effective CPD tools for Australasian medical practitioners,” says Ms Pizzuti.
When asked about the research outcomes of her work, Ms Pizzuti replied, “evidence-based recommendations will be developed at system level to support medical regulatory bodies, healthcare service organisations, and medical education providers advance the use of electronic health data for practice improvement purposes.”
Ms Pizzuti’s work will be incredibly beneficial to the College and the members it serves, as the research findings and outcomes are expected to improve current CPD policies, processes and programs in Australasia.
“The ultimate aim is to support Australasian physicians meet their CPD requirements – in particular those linked to reviewing performance and measuring outcomes of CPD activities,” shares Ms Pizzuti.
If you would like to find out more about Ms Pizzuti’s work, you can watch the video recording of her PhD presentation at the Australian & New Zealand Association for Health Professional Educators (ANZAHPE) Conference 2021. You can also find out more about the Practice Analytics Research Program with the Digital Health CRC at the Digital Health and Informatics Network webpage.